Sensex surges as FIIs turn active buyers

Bhel, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries were among the 22 gainers in the 30-share BSE Sensex, which on Friday hit lifetime high of 21,960.89 — less than 40 points shy of the 22,000 mark. File photo

All-time record highs for Sensex at 21,919.79 and Nifty at 6,526.65 as investor wealth balloons by nearly Rs 85,000 crore on strong FII support.

Stock indices, on Friday, surged to their all-time record highs backed by buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who have gone bullish on the Indian market following the announcement of general elections.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed with a gain of 406 points at 21920 as compared to the previous day’s close of 21514.

Similarly, the NSE 50-share Nifty surged to 6538 before closing with a gain of 125 points at 6527. The previous Nifty high of 6415 was reported on December 9, last year.

The Sensex top gainers included BHEL, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, RIL and Bharti Airtel. The Nifty top gainers included DLF, JP Associates, BHEL and ICICI Bank.

“Today FII buying was seen in SBI, RIL and many bank stocks. The amount of FII money pouring into the market is rising as the investors are expecting a stable government at the centre,” said Deven Choksey, Managing Director, KR Choksey Shares and Securities.

“This is more of a rally of hope. All opinion polls have predicted a stable government, and the FIIs are buying into this hope. This pre-election rally is backed by encouraging data on the current account deficit (CAD) and Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fronts,” said Ambaries Beluga, Managing Partner, and Edelweiss Global Wealth.

“After seven years, Nifty is walking comfortably into new highs. The current conditions are extremely conducive after a long time. Apart from the big political event in two months, corporate earnings are more important. Throughout the slowdown, there has not been a single year of decline in earnings. The currency is also not overvalued anymore ,” said Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint Managing Director, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Rupee strengthens

The rupee, on Friday, strengthened to its three-month high with fresh dollar inflows. The rupee during intra-day strengthened to Rs.60.95 to a dollar but later it came under pressure and closed at 61.07, up four paise against the previous close of 61.11.